


Life Goes On

by GachMoBrea



Series: The Unexpected Series [7]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Abrupt "Ending", Deja Vu, Gen, Healed Injuries, Healing Injuries, Joe Likes Len Now, Lunch, Moving, Neighbors, New house, OOC, Out of Character, Personal Musings, Soup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 10:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6562399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GachMoBrea/pseuds/GachMoBrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len finishes healing in STAR Labs. <br/>When the Snarts move out, Barry gets some surprising new neighbors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Goes On

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly Alternating POV's - I pretty much go into people's heads when I want to "expound" on something....
> 
> *{In this universe: Barry and Joe share the house while Iris has a small apartment in the City. She still has a room, in case she comes for a long visit, but otherwise has her own place...}*

"I got more diapers for Worthy," Barry announces, stopping mid-stride in the room, a terrible feeling of Déjà vu washing over him. Flashes of a fight, screaming, late night movies, and an operating table buzzed passed his brain and he shook them loose.  
The Snarts were living in STAR Labs again. Wentworth didn't seem to mind and Lisa enjoyed being able to cling to her boyfriend more frequently than usual, but Len was clearly fidgeting to get out of the building. After what he'd been through, it's no wonder he wouldn't want to be cooped up for too long.  
"Perfect timing, Barry Daddy," Lisa smiles, helping Worthy walk towards him, "Big boy here made a big mess."  
Barry could smell it as they got closer, his nose wrinkled against the odor.   
Lisa laughs at him, "Exactly!"  
Barry picks his son up by his sides so he wouldn't squish the contents of the diaper and make a bigger mess. He took him to the changing table, almost too small to hold the little boy now, and took care of the problem with practiced ease.  
Len was sleeping in the medical room. He had been doing that a lot after suffering an infection from the frost bite treatment. His color was back to normal, but there was still bitterness in his eyes when he thinks no one is looking.   
Barry has tried to broach the subject about what happened with Len a few times, but each attempt was met with a Captain Cold smirk and a cool dismissal. The speedster chose to wait it out instead. Len would talk when he was ready.

"All better," Barry smiles, bringing Wentworth back to his aunt. Lisa had yet to shake her extra cling since her nephew's kidnapping. The only person she let hold the little boy, apart from those in the Team who changed his diaper or bathed him, was Len.  
She smiled at Worthy as she took him from Barry, "We should start potty training you! You're almost two years old!"  
"Potty-training success hinges on physical and emotional readiness, not a specific age," Barry piped up, "Many kids show interest in potty training by age 2, but others might not be ready until age 2 1/2 or even older — and there's no rush. If you start potty training too early, it might take longer to train your child."  
Lisa level an annoyed look at him. Right, baby encyclopedia Barry at it again.  
A soft chuckling was coming from the medical room and they turned to look at Len smiling at them. He clearly heard Barry prattling off baby info again. The speedster's face burned.

"Da!" Wentworth reaches for his father. Lisa took him over to Len's bed so he could sit in her brother's lap.   
"Can't seem to shake this tired feeling," Len smirked at his son, adjusting his clothes so they were a little straighter. His son nodded his head and started babbling to him as if they were having a conversation.  
"He's a real talker these days," Lisa sighs, "Soon those sounds will become real words."  
"Babies will pick up words from everyone around them. Sometime between 18 months and 2 years, they begin to form two- to four-word sentences."   
Barry's mouth might have a filter problem. He can't seem to resist spouting out any knowledge he'd gotten from reading all the local library had to offer on infants.  
Lisa sighed a little louder while Len chuckled again. Barry liked it when Len chuckled; the deep noise put his nerves at ease. He could tell Worthy liked it too, because their son clapped his hands and laughed along with his father.  
"What will we do when you get older, Wentworth?" Len looked at their son like it was a serious question, "Your other Dad will have a brain filled with baby info, or worse, he'll start researching child development and it won't stop until you're married. Maybe even passed that."  
Lisa snorted and Barry's face blushed again. He is NOT going to- Well, at least he wasn't going to...Len might have a point there...

\---

Iris is there the next day, bringing home made soup and new books for Wentworth. Lisa has the boy in her lap while Iris reads to him about a polar bear in search of a place to sleep. It's endearing to watch as Worthy looks at the pictures, the story captivating his attention completely.  
Len was out of bed and limping around the kitchen area and putting the soup in bowls for lunch. Barry walks over to him to and offers to help.  
"I might be wounded, but I'm no invalid," Len drawls, putting an ice cube in one of the bowls so that the steaming liquid will cool faster.  
"How about I just get the drinks ready?" Barry moves to do just that, "That way you don't have to, not that you can't."  
"Fine," Len sighs, a note of dismissal in the tone, "Don't give Wentworth the green cup, he hates it."  
"Oh," Barry puts said cup back into the cupboard and grabs the blue one instead, "Since when does he hate certain colors?"  
"Since Lisa showed him a puppet show that had an especially grouchy character," Len shakes his head, "Now everything green is vaguely associated with 'grouchy' and makes him upset."  
"At least it doesn't make him angry," Barry smiles, "We wouldn't like him when he's angry."  
Len chuckles and Barry's smile gets a little bit bigger.

Lisa lets Iris spoon the soup into Wentworth's mouth in favor of trying to feed Cisco. The genius had arrived in time to join them, but was now red as a tomato and sputtering over his girlfriend's actions.  
"I can feed myself," he grounds out, putting his hands in front of his mouth as Lisa tries to put another spoonful into it.  
"But this is more romantic," Lisa says smoothly. She leans closer to him and bats her eyelashes slowly, "Don't you want me to be happy?"  
"What does happiness have to do with humiliating me in front of my friends?" Cisco resolutely doesn't whine, "Not to mention your older brother, who looks like he's going to kill me the moment there aren't any witnesses."  
Len is indeed glaring at them. The man is never happy when Lisa tries to be 'mushy' around Cisco.   
"Lenny, stop scaring my boyfriend, please," Lisa smiles sweetly at her brother before turning her attention back to her boyfriend, "Better?"  
"No," Cisco scoffs.  
"Let the man feed himself, Lisa," Len drawls, not wanting the scene they're making to be drawn out anymore, "If he can't do that much, he'll never be a good husband."  
"I would be perfect husband material, I will have you know," Cisco defends, but he's secretly glad for the comment since it gets Lisa to stop.   
Lisa gives Cisco back his spoon, but scoots closer to him to whisper, "Maybe we can do next time we're alone, hubby."  
Barry almost chokes as his friend's face gets impossibly redder.

\---

Len's leg is, finally, fully healed and the whole gang go out together for a walk in the park. Wentworth can practically walk by himself, but Lisa keeps a hold on his hand anyway so he can't wander too far.   
Len takes in deep breaths of fresh air, closing his eyes for a moment against the warm, bright sun as he walks slowly with the group.   
Barry's glad it's such a nice day. There was a 30% chance of rain in the forecast the day before and his heart had sunk, but his mood was instantly better when bright sunlight woke him up that morning.  
"Never was the outdoorsy type," Len smirks at whatever memory that's playing behind his eyes, "But it sure feels good to be out in the sun again."  
"Exposure to sunlight and fresh air actually offers your body health benefits that can last a lifetime," Caitlin smiles, "It gives you greater energy, reduces stress and depression, improves sleep and your overall health."  
"Thanks, Doc," Len glances down and takes his son's free hand.  
"How come when Caitlin spouts medical jargon you say thanks, but when I state baby jargon I get an eye roll?" Barry is being sarcastic, but there's a bit of actual curiosity to his rant.  
"Snow's 'medical jargon' as you put it, can be used on anyone, at any age," Len gives Barry a meaningful look, "You're baby smarts are only good till the child outgrows them."  
"Fair point," Barry sighs. He's not about to stop 'spouting' baby facts as they become relevant, though, they come in handy!  
"Da, da-da, da!" Wentworth points to a dog chasing a Frisbee, it's red color reflecting the sunlight as it wobbles before the canine grasps it in his jaw.  
"Lenny, can we-"   
"No," Len deadpans, cutting his sister off.  
"But you don't-"  
"Not gonna happen."  
"How can you-"  
"Dogs are too much work and messy. You can't even change Wentworth's diapers. A dog is worse, especially before it's house trained and I don't want one."  
Lisa pouts and Len ignores her. He watches his son's confident steps instead, noting the lack of wobbling and a pang of sadness hits him in the chest for all the days he missed out on.  
Barry watches Len out of the corner of his eye. He sees the other man look at their son and an unpleasant look crosses over his face. It's gone a second later, covered over in a mask Len's perfected and Barry's heart aches a little.   
They have to talk, whether the other man wants to or not.

\---

This time, when the Snarts are ready to leave STAR Labs, Barry is there to see them go. He helps pack their things and carry them to the car. Len is surprisingly thorough.   
"Did you change the sheets?" he asks his sister, placing the last diaper in the diaper bag and zippering it closed.  
"Yes, mother," Lisa taunts, "And I collected the trash, collected the toddler specific food, and packed the playpen."  
Len smiles, "I'm surprised. The last one would've stopped our resident hero in his tracks."  
Lisa giggles as Barry fumes. Len is never going to let that go.  
Wentworth walks up to Barry and offers him a book. It's the one about three goats and the little boy's favorite. Barry had read it to him hundreds of times when Len was-Barry's brain skidded over the word "missing." It hadn't been easy for any of them.  
His son is still holding the book up to him and Barry curses inwardly for standing there like an idiot.  
"One more time for the road?" he asks, sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed so Worthy can sit in his lap. Len glances over to them, but doesn't say anything. He merely resuming packing their things.  
As Barry reads, his voice filling the room as the tale unfolds, the Snart siblings finish. The book ends far too quickly and Barry slows his reading for the last few words, closing the book with a quiet 'snap.'   
"Ta, Ba!" Wentworth turns a goofy smile to Barry.  
"You're welcome," Barry smiles back at his son. A warm feeling spreads throughout his chest. It's not the same as when he blushes or when he gets angry. It's pleasant.  
"Come on, Wentworth," Lisa coos, reaching her arms out to her nephew, "Aunt Lisa wants to go check out our new home."  
"New home?" Barry's surprised, this is the first time he's heard anything about a 'new home.' When did that happen?  
"Relax, Barry, it's just a precaution," Len drawls, noting the surprised look on the other man's face. He smiles, "You want to come?"  
Of course he wants to come! But he doesn't want to seem too eager either, for what reason, Barry didn't know, "Yeah, sure, sounds like fun."  
"Family road trip!" Len calls out, leading the way to the car.  
"Shotgun!" Lisa announces, letting Barry takes Worthy so he can buckle him in the back. Barry doesn't care. His mind is still reeling over the 'family' part in Len's statement.

 

Their new house is across from Joe's, well, Barry's too since he still lives with his foster father. Barry can't believe it. He looks at Len and knows the man is inwardly laughing at him, he can tell by the look in his eyes.  
"You-Why-I didn't even know this house was for sale!" Barry's voice is getting dangerously high as he tries to grasp his mind around the fact they are gong to be 'neighbors!'  
"It seemed like a good neighborhood," Len shrugs, pride radiating off him for getting one-up on the speedster.  
Joe pulls up at that exact moment. The detective gets out of his car and looks confused at the eight sets of eyes turned his way, "Snart?"  
"Afternoon, neighbor!" Len calls out to him, all fake friendly attitude, "Can you spare a cup of sugar?"  
Joe checks the street for traffic before striding across it and to them, "Did you just say neighbor? I didn't even know this house was for sale."  
"That's what I said," Barry is glad he isn't the only one out of the loop.  
"Closed sale, the house never went on the market," Len smiles, "The old owner was ready for sunnier places and was overjoyed to help out a single father."  
'Single father' hurt a little to Barry. Len and him weren't "together" or anything like that, but Wentworth was his son too. Then again, now that Barry thought about it, he didn't really act like a proper father around the boy.   
"You just make sure Worthy doesn't go running into the streets," Joe makes it a point to bring that to forefront the other man's mind, "Too many kids get hurt running into streets after balls or stray animals."  
"Duly noted, Detective," Len sounds earnest. He looks to their son in his sister's arms and points a finger at him, "No going into the street."  
Wentworth nods like he understands and Barry can't help but laugh. 

\---

There's still a lot of things back at the Snart's old house and Barry's speed is a huge help in moving it. Joe even rents a moving van for them and lends a hand on his day off. Lisa "helps" by holding Wentworth almost the entire time.  
"If you don't get your personal things into the truck, we're leaving them," Len warns her as he and Barry maneuver a couch passed her and out the door.  
"Lenny, guys were given muscles so they could help out the ladies!" Lisa's pathetic attempt at persuading her brother is exactly that, pathetic.  
After the furniture is in the truck Len returns with, "Guys were also given the ability to break things easily with said muscles."  
Lisa glares, but eventually stomps to her room to get her things.  
With no one to hold him out of the way, Wentworth gets to work throwing his books into an open cardboard box. Joe smiles at his willingness to help and abandons the mirror he was wrapping in favor of helping his grandson get as many books as possible into the box.  
"Grandson." Wow, that was a word Joe West never thought he'd be thinking so soon. Sure, maybe further down the line when either Barry or Iris found someone nice, but definitely not this soon and out of such bizarre circumstances and with Leonard Snart as the child's other parent!  
Joe chuckled to himself over how the world kept throwing him curve balls. 

"Having fun?" Barry asks from above them. Joe turns to the young man returns the affectionate smile he sees.  
"This little guy is a hard worker," he points to boy who is still gathering his books, "I'd guess he got his energy from you, but as for his work ethic?"  
"Len works hard, Joe," Barry shrugs, knowing first hand how the man can spend hours going over a plan to look for possible problems.  
"I guess he couldn't have been a very good crook if he laid around in bed all day," Joe smirks. He's not trying to bring up the past. Seeing the work Len's done with The Flash over the past year was proof enough that the man had changed. Seeing the way he acted around Barry cemented that proof into a trust Joe never thought he could have for him.  
"Yeah, well, you can't be a very good Dad sitting around all the time either," Barry points out. He can tell Joe isn't trying to make trouble, but there's a sudden protective feeling buzzing in the back of Barry's head and he irrationally wants to point out every good thing Len has ever done.  
"If you two are done lovingly staring at each other," Len's drawling voice cuts in, "I could use an extra hand with these boxes."  
Barry blushes, ashamed at himself for spacing out again, and flashes to Len's side. He take two heavy boxes as an apology and brings them to the truck.

They make quick work of the last items. Lisa, begrudgingly, gets all her things into the truck by herself in the amount of time it takes Barry and Len to get everything else.  
"Now, my reward," she smiles, lifting her nephew and kissing him on the cheek.  
Joe and Wentworth had worked together and gotten all the books packed away. When they moved onto the toys, the detective noticed the lack of stuffed playthings.  
That just wouldn't do.

"Did we get everything?" Barry asks, hands on his hips as he surveys the room.  
"Looks like everything's packed away," Len affirms, closing the moving van's back door, "I'll drive this. Detective West can take the car."  
"Wait," Lisa looks extremely offended, "You won't let me drive Worthy around, but you'll let the cop do it?"  
"Detective," Joe corrects, but Lisa ignores him.  
"The Detective has experience you don't, sis," Len looks apologetic, but it doesn't look like he's going to change his mind, "I'm sure you could do it, but I'd feel better knowing a responsible adult was behind the wheel."  
Lisa narrows her eyes at her brother, "That's low, Lenny."  
"Tell you what," Len takes a step closer, eyes dancing with mischief, "When our Wentworth is ready to start learning how to ride a bike, I'll let you ride along side him."  
"Do I get to take him jacket shopping?" she raises an eyebrow.  
"Of course," Len smiles. His sister nods and the deal is struck, all the tension from what could've been a fight draining away to nothing.

Barry decides to ride with Len. Lisa rides with Joe and their son ahead in the car.  
"I can't believe Lisa gave in after you said she could ride bikes with Wentworth," Barry shakes his head, "He's not going to be able to pedal very fast at first, she's got to know that."  
"Pedal?" Len laughs. When Barry looks at him with great big confused eyes he explains, "I wasn't talking about a bicycle, Barry. I was talking about a motorcycle."

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the show, nor the characters.


End file.
